Wego sees Mideast market expansion

Dubai, September 19, 2013

Wego, a leading travel metasearch site in the Asia Pacific and Middle East, sees great potential in the Middle East as the region’s tourism and travel market expands dramatically.

The company opened a dedicated office in Dubai headed by a director, earlier this year.

Wego.com is a leading travel search engine across the Asia-Pacific and Middle East and is used by millions of travellers each month, the company said.

The company is rapidly expanding air content in the Middle East to meet the growth in demand, as search volumes on www.wego.ae continue to exceed company expectations, it said.

“We always knew that this region was going to advance quickly however the speed in which airfare search volumes continue to develop on Wego, at much higher growth rates than expected, has surprised us,” said Dean Wicks, chief flights officer for Wego.

The UNWTO’s latest report also expressed surprise at the pace of global tourism growth which also exceeded their forecasts, with the Middle East and Asia leading the way.

“Regions throughout Mena are taking tourism very seriously and dedicating considerable resources to the industry,” said Mohammed Ibrahim Masri, managing director of Wego, Middle East and North Africa.

“All travel operators are investing heavily to ensure the region is placed at the forefront of world tourism. Dubai is currently the second busiest international airport in the world, and figures released by Dubai Airport in August shows that international arrivals have increased by over 6 per cent in July, and year to date traffic is up 15.3 per cent,” Masri added.

“Mena has provided so many firsts for Wego,” Wicks continued. “We’ve already accomplished so much in the region by providing the first flight and hotel travel metasearch site to appear in both Arabic and English, and partnering with key local travel sites.”

Most recently Wego signed a full content agreement with Egypt Air coinciding with the airline’s announcement of a four time weekly Cairo to Jakarta service, (via Kuala Lumpur) connecting with the strength of Wego’s Asian network presence.

“The region continues to grow for Wego with many major airline accounts currently under negotiation. Presently we’re in the process of integrating a number of major regional carriers that we are expecting to go live on site within the next couple of weeks,” said Wicks. – TradeArabia News Service